Mr Bailey said he did not think extra truck movements would complicate the project.

"The port of Hobart exists around the outsides of it so Macquarie Point really doesn't impact the working port," he said.

Mr Henty said the port itself had plenty of space for the new service.

"TasPorts utilises something like less than 30 per cent of their berth space so we've certainly got the space for a smaller operators to come in and run coastal services and its very encouraging," he said.

In a statement Tasports said it was regularly in discussions with potential new shipping services.

"These discussions remain commercial-in-confidence until such time that the shipping company decides to make an announcement."